Shin Megami Tensei V daily demon vol. 198 – Maria

Another demon trailer has come in for Shin Megami Tensei V, with Maria now getting the focus. Its previous appearances are limited to Shin Megami Tensei NINE, Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux, and Persona 5 Royal.

Here’s some background information on Maria, courtesy of the Megami Tensei Wiki:

Maria, known as the Virgin Mary, the Madonna, Myrhiàm or Maryam, is the central female figure in Christianity and many other Abrahamic faiths, she was a first-century Jewish woman living in the province of Galilee, wife to Joseph and mother of Jesus Christ, the messiah for Christians and a great prophet for Muslims.

She is said in the Gospel and the Quran to have followed her son Jesus in his preachings, being an example of goodness and piety.

In both Christianity and Islam, Maria is said to have conceived Jesus with the miraculous intervention of God, through the holy spirit (only for Christians, as Muslims do not believe in the holy trinity) after being visited by the archangel Gabriel, while maintaining her virginity. Because of this she is honored as the mother of God (theotokos in Greek) by Christians and as the greatest of all women in Islam.

Catholicism is the branch of Christianity and the Abrahamic faiths that focuses the most on Maria, where she is said to have inspired Jesus’ first miracle at the marriage at Cana, and later bore witness to his death on the cross and resurrection three days later, she also received the holy spirit in the form of a flame during the Pentecost and became a leading figure among Jesus’ apostles.

Catholics believe that Maria didn’t permanently die, but rather ascended directly to Heaven at the end of her life, where she became the Regina Coeli queen of the heavens, ruler of all saints and angels.

Despite her important role, she isn’t worshiped as a goddess, but rather honored as a great saint, and many today claim to have received miracles and visions from her.

In the Divine Comedy, the three books by Dante Alighieri that depicts the Catholic view of the afterlife in the middle ages, and a great inspiration for the Megami Tensei franchise, she is said to reside in the Candida Rosa (Italian for “white rose”) a realm within the highest sphere of Heaven, the Primum Mobile, from where she intervenes to save Dante Alighieri’s soul, allowing him to travel through the three realms of the afterlife.

In some Apocryphal texts, she is said to have been protected by the archangel Aniel.

We’ve got a trailer for Maria in Shin Megami Tensei V below.

Shin Megami Tensei V is due out for Switch. Check out our previous coverage including all demon trailers thus far here.